gingerpale...sooooooooooooo lovely to see your name and the list!...am going to save the read for later...when not quite so rushed...yummy...to look forward to...will have a glass of wine as I read...thanks for adding to the list of answerers... and hugs_________________"I've never accepted the external appearance of things as the whole truth. The world is much more elaborate than the nerves of our eye can tell us." - James Gleeson

1.What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Spending a cozy evening with my husband and dog, curled up under a blanket with a cup of tea.
2.What is your greatest fear?
To need help when I am old and feeble, and have no one there.
3.What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Do not necessarily deplore anythng, but I am impatient with impatience.
4.What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Smug arrogance.
5.Which living person do you most admire?
Not telling!
6.What is your greatest extravagance?
My Nespresso machine.
7.What is your current state of mind?
Contented. Ready. Curious.
8.What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Wealth. (Is that a virtue?)
9.On what occasion do you lie?
To avoid unnecessary strife.
10.What do you most dislike about your appearance?
A toss-up. One thing I could do something about, the other thing I can't.
11.Which living person do you most despise?
Not telling that either. But by contemplating this and #5, I know how to vote in November.
12.What is the quality you most like in a man?
Honesty, fidelity, integrity, decency.
13.What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Honesty, fidelity, integrity, decency.
14.Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
According to my spousal unit: Sweet!
15.What or who is the greatest love of your life?
I married him.
16.When and where were you happiest?
There are many, but a favorite time was a moment of grace as I watched the Northern Lights with my mom and husband in the middle of the night on a train zooming across Canada.
17.Which talent would you most like to have?
To be able to sing. Wait...to play the piano. Wait...sing.
18.If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
Choosing inaction when action was needed.
19.What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Having the courage to speak up when it made a difference.
20.If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
Someone who could inspire real peace.
21.Where would you most like to live?
In a stone cottage next to the ocean, warmed by a fireplace in winter and cooled by ocean breezes in the summer, with four spaces: a lovely bed, a dreamy kitchen, a place to read & create, a place to congregate and share.
22.What is your most treasured possession?
A black & white photo of four generations of women in my family  my great grandmother, grandmother, mom, sister and me.
23.What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Inconsolable anger.
24.What is your favorite occupation?
Healer.
25.What is your most marked characteristic?
Humor.
26.What do you value in your friends?
Honesty, trust, and a balanced commitment to the friendship.
27.Who are your favorite writers?
Too many to name.
28.Who is your hero of fiction?
No idea.
29.Which historical figure do you most identify with?
Good question.
30.Who are your heroes in real life?
My grandparents. They are gone now, but remain heroes in my heart.
31.What are your favorite names?
Lucy, Hannah, Phoebe.
32.What is it that you most dislike?
Sloth.
33.What is your greatest regret?
Not being with my mom the day she died.
34.How would you like to die?
When I am very old, in the presence of someone I love and who loves me, and without pain.
35.What is your motto?
Speak the truth.

1. What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Spending time with my son and sailing
2. What is your greatest fear?
Being buried alive
3. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Procrastination
4. What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Being self centred.
5. Which living person do you most admire?
My school teacher from primary days in the fifties.
6. What is your greatest extravagance?
Perfume
7. What is your current state of mind?
Lonely and aggravated at mens propensity to only like slim bodies
8. What do you consider the most overrated virtue? Definitely righteousness....the reason I left.... to become a single person again
9. On what occasion do you lie?
When I know someone has tried their hardest to please and it still doesn't measure up to what I wanted
10. What do you most dislike about your appearance?
My huge a** !
11. Which living person do you most despise?
Don't really despise anyone
12. What is the quality you most like in a man?
Humour
13. What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Being open and friendly so I don't have to measure up my words each time I speak, being totally relaxed with them
14. Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
"Do you know what I mean"....my sisters say I drive them crazy with it
15. What or who is the greatest love of your life?
My son
16. When and where were you happiest? The day I was confirmed to be pregnant for the first time . A joy that had no bounds. Sadly he, Benjamin died as a baby, so he gave the greatest joy I have ever known and the greatest sadness. My next greatest happiness came when I realised that my second son Saxon was a healthy baby.
17. Which talent would you most like to have?
Musical
18. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
Try to be a bit more courageous and to have the willpower to lose my excess weight.
19. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Having my two sons Saxon and Benjamin.
20. If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
Me....but would like it to be with all the knowledge I have now !
21. Where would you most like to live?
Have lived in many places and I like it right where I am in Perth Australia. Wouldn't mind a pied a terre in Paris though.
22. What is your most treasured possession?
My library of over 600 cookbooks.
23. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
When one of your children dies....nothing comes close.
24. What is your favorite occupation?
Caterer
25. What is your most marked characteristic?
My never ending optimism that something will work out.
26. What do you most value in your friends?
Being non judgemental
27. Who are your favorite writers?
All my faves come from the self help fraternity.
28. Who is your hero of fiction?
None
29. Which historical figure do you most identify with?
Queen Elizabeth 1....don't know why.
30. Who are your heroes in real life?
People who when they get knocked down spring back up with that ever eternal optimism.
31. What are your favorite names?
Sophie, Saxon (my son) and India
32. What is it that you most dislike?
Greedy people who live off the misery of others.
33. What is your greatest regret?
That I did not take up the opportunity to go to Sorbonne when it was offered to me.
34. How would you like to die?
I would not LIKE to die at all!
35. What is your motto?
Tomorrow is another day and who is to say what magic waits.

1.What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Not having any worries.
2. What is your greatest fear?
Dying before my children find their life partners.
3. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Procrastination.
4. What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Mean spirited.
5. Which living person do you most admire?
My husband.
6. What is your greatest extravagance?
Jamon Iberico.
7. What is your current state of mind?
Hopeful.
8. What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Ambition.
9. On what occasion do you lie?
To protect someones feelings.
10. What do you most dislike about your appearance?
My legs.
11. Which living person do you most despise?
I don't despise anyone although there are people I dislike.
12. What is the quality you most like in a man?
Honesty.
13. What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Thoughtfulness.
14. Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
Can't those people stop that kid from screaming.
15. What or who is the greatest love of your life?
My husband and children.
16. When and where were you happiest?
Walking the Camino in 2004.
17. Which talent would you most like to have?
A really high IQ.
18. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
Remove the cancer gene.
19. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Getting through all my surgery and every chemo session.
20. If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
Me.
21. Where would you most like to live?
Where I live now.
22. What is your most treasured possession?
I am no longer attached to possessions.
23. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Hurting those you love.
24. What is your favorite occupation?
Being in the water with the sun shining.
25. What is your most marked characteristic?
I'm told my smile.
26. What do you most value in your friends?
Sincerety, honesty, thoughtfulness, punctuality.
27. Who are your favorite writers?
MFK Fisher, Laurence Durrel, Frances Mayes
28. Who is your hero of fiction?
I don't often read fiction.
29. Which historical figure do you most identify with?
Nope, can't think of anyone.
30. Who are your heroes in real life?
My husband, my doctors, my friends.
31. What are your favorite names?
Can't say I have any.
32. What is it that you most dislike?
Screaming kids in restaurants, Girls who squeal at spiders.
33. What is your greatest regret?
Not insisting on a cancer check when the GP said I didn't need it yet.
34. How would you like to die?
In my sleep after a nice lunch out with good friends with good conversation and good wine.
35. What is your motto?
Handle each piece of paper only once._________________Barbara

Joined: 18 Oct 2004Posts: 1654Location: Within view of Elliot Bay, The Olympics and every ship in the Sound

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 6:13 pm Post subject:

I agree with Barbara about girls squealing over a spider. I do however admit to a double standard on this subject. It kills me when a big tough guys squeals at a spider. My friends and I were at a cabin in central Washington rooting around in the garage when my friend came upon a rather large spider and went screaming and running down the driveway. Our other friends came running believing me to be in trouble only to realise the high pitched girly scream they heard belonged to the big tough water polo player.....heheheh.... I love that one._________________"It's watery....and yet there's a smack of ham."

I knew a plumber who was scared of spiders. Halfway through connecting a pipe behind the boiler in our previous house, he gasped and stood up suddenly. When asked what was the matter he told us and said there was a spider there. I grabbed a jar and a card, trapped the spider, gave it a good talking to and put it outdoors in the bay tree.

I did used to be afraid of spiders, then I read Spiderman and wanted one to bite me!! I too could have the proportional strength of a spider, climb walls and swing on spider-gossamer... or I could have had if the spiders didn't squeal and run when they saw me....!!! _________________Confusion comes fitted as standard.

You might not believe this...I still cannot. Overheard at Sunday brunch in a nice Park City, Utah restaurant circa 1995-6. Several women, by their dress just fresh from church services, (not Mormon, something very fundamentalist sounding) discussing the "fact" that spiders are one of "God's miscreations" !! Agnostic though I am, I still thought that was pretty arrogant!!

Rich nearly fell off his chair, he loves bugs way more than he loves me, we still laugh about it and wonder what else those crazy ladies took to heart..

Rich nearly fell off his chair, he loves bugs way more than he loves me,

Was it your six legs or those lovely long antennae of yours that he fell for?!

Are you sure they didn't say that spiders were God's miscreants?!

One of the things I love is a frosty autumn morning with the cobwebs threaded with dewdrops. Oh and watching a busy spider build a new web. The skill, the patience... and the very tiny sound of the spider swearing when the breeze picks up!!_________________Confusion comes fitted as standard.

"...very tiny sound of the spider swearing..."
Griffin you're so funny, I can just picture the poor little spinner.
I have spidernerves too, but a little research can go a long way to make one appreciate and fear less the wonderful spider.

Not scientific or accurate, but let me tell you about the trapdoor spider. He makes a little tunnel in dirt, lined with spiderweb. At the opening of the tunnel is a little trap door made of mud and spiderweb. He hangs upside down on this little door and waits for the vibrations of a trespasser insect--then swings open the door and lets the victim fall/drags dinner inside. Exactly what people do more elaborately!